


Staircase revisited

by medusa20



Category: The Big Bang Theory
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Family, Gen, Violence, spousal abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-08
Updated: 2012-06-29
Packaged: 2017-11-08 19:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medusa20/pseuds/medusa20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny hears a different story the night of the thermostat fight</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_**Prologue** _

Penny listened to them as they argued about the thermostat of all things! She painted her toenails though she paused as Leonard cried,

"Go to hell and set their thermostat!"

Sheldon shot back, "I don't have to go to hell. At 73 degrees, I'm there already!" She laughed at the ridiculousness of it all but then there was a very loud thump followed by a very un-Sheldon like "Dammit!"

Three rapid knocks each punctuated by "Penny" echoed off her door. She hobbled over, opened it and found Sheldon cradling his hand. Two knuckles were bleeding.

"Did you punch Leonard?" she was horrified.

"No." he said calmly. "I lost my temper and punched the wall. I don't want to go back in there so could I have some ice?" Penny ran over to the fridge ignoring her smudged pedicure; she didn't have any ice but, oddly, she had a bag of frozen corn. She brought it to Sheldon.

"That will do quite nicely.' he commented. "It is more flexible than ice cubes."

"Do you want to come in?"

He shook his head, "I'm going up to the roof to calm down a little. You may join me if you would like. I don't really feel like being alone."

They walked up the stairs in silence. It was a gorgeous evening. Penny wondered why she didn't spend more time up here- you could see the whole city and countless stars. Sheldon scouted around for a place free of any dirty socks. Finding one, he sat to nurse his bruised hand. Penny sidled up next to him; he looked so bereft like a lion with a thorn in its paw. "My father would be very disappointed in the quality of that punch I threw." Sheldon mentioned.

"He taught you to punch?" Penny asked; Sheldon very rarely mentioned his father.

The physicist flexed his long fingers, peered at the drying blood on his knuckles and gave a wry snort, "Yes, he did."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Mary Cooper bore the brunt of her husband's temper. He seldom bothered the children and , if they did catch his attention, she could always distract him by making a claim that he was drunk even if she knew he was stone cold sober. Mary actually preferred him with some level of intoxication in his blood otherwise he never tired and his aim was dead on.

Sheldon had been playing doctor since he was five. Mary would be hard pressed to find the scar on her scalp from a wielded belt buckle and his stitching of her eyebrow was so meticulous that it barely left a scar. Eventually, Mary took care of herself most of the time because the majority of her "afflictions" were below the neck. However, her main reason was she couldn't stand to have Sheldon look her over with eyes so like his father's except for the sympathy and silent chastising.

**XXXX**

"Wait. You did medical procedures on your mother?" Penny interrupted

"Minor ones." Sheldon shrugged. "One can only go to the emergency room so many times before unpleasant questions start being asked."

**XXXX**

Sheldon began his compulsive journaling very early documenting everything that occurred - the weather, the food served, outfits the individual members were wearing- on any day his father had one of his "spells' but there was no defined pattern, nothing he could link together. His love for explaining the unexplainable, for explaining everything grew from the fruitless search for the catalyst to his father's violent behavior.

And the rage. The slick, hot fury that lurked beneath Sheldon's surface like a bruise. Rage at the government for prohibiting him access to yellow cake uranium. Rage at his teachers for their helplessness when faced with his intelligence. Rage at the neighborhood children for beatings, feces on handlebars, taunts of "freak" and "white trash.". Rage at his inability to intervene when his father and mother squared off in battle. His brother and Missy never hesitated to break it up; Sheldon accepted his role as the healer not the conqueror but still the anger remained.

The only way to contain it was to live a life of perfect order. While Sheldon could never anticipate what his father would do next, he could anticipate what Sheldon would do next. So it was much easier to deal with plates being shot off the roof if one simply stuck to a routine of dinner, the joke labeled "homework" , a Star Trek episode, pajamas, teeth brushing and bed. Just pretend the shotgun blasts were the Enterprise's jets taking off and your mother's wails the eerie theme music.

**XXXX**

Penny sat so absorbed in Sheldon's story that a shift in the wind caused her eyes to water and her nose to run. Sheldon quietly handed her a handkerchief. The trumpeting of her nose broke the silence. Sheldon's lip curled, "You may keep that. I have several others."

Penny rubbed her eyes with the sodden cloth then balled it up in her fist.

"What happened next?"


	3. Chapter 3

George Cooper never bothered with his younger son although there was no logical reason why. By 14, Sheldon matched him and his brother in height but lacked the manly bulk of the other Cooper men("Put that boy out in the field for a scarecrow." his father would slur) Also, Sheldon with his passion for schedules, managed to arrange his life so he orbited his father rather than flaunting his presence like Missy or deliberately baiting the man the way his brother did.

One day, Sheldon sat up in the oak tree waiting out Mrs. McCLuskey's chicken and determining the radii of the surrounding branches when a familiar crash sent him scrambling higher for safety.

George was home! Why? Sheldon checked his watch; there were two more hours before his father was supposed to be home. Blaming his elevated heart rate on the disruption of his schedule, Sheldon peered through a cover of leaves. Missy came flying out the back door followed by one of the local rednecks Sheldon so despised who promptly took off down the road.

"Missy, you get back here this instant." George roared.

"The hell I will." she called ."I ain't stupid."

That was debatable, Sheldon smirked. His father quickly caught her yanking her to the ground by her ponytail.

"You gonna let every cracker in the town put his hands on you?" George kicked Missy savagely in the rear. She rolled to her feet hollering for their older brother. Sheldon knew he was working down at the scrap yard. Missy was on her own.

By this point, George Cooper had called Missy every version of whore he knew of("In the Bible belt, " Sheldon pointed out, "That's quite a lot.") He then shoved her once more to the ground.

"You like being on your knees." the man taunted savagely. Sheldon swallowed the bile that was in his throat- his homework time was being impacted by the fracas below causing him intestinal distress. Missy was blubbering, crawling slowly. George whipped the back of her legs with his belt drawing blood. She gave up trying to hold back and screamed,

"Sheldon! Help!"

**XXXX**

Penny drew back. She'd uttered the same thing two years ago when she slipped in the shower.

"How many times in your life have you heard that?" she asked.

"More'n I care to remember." Lost in memories of Texas, the accent was hard to hide, "But I never ignore the pleas of a damsel in distress."

**XXXX**

His father's laugh was rough and mocking, 'You think your brother's gonna save you? He's probably off somewhere pretending he's Mighty Mouse."

Mighty Mouse! Honestly, how Sheldon sprang from that man's loins, no amount of Punnet squares ever revealed.

"Shelllly!" Missy bleated as her father kicked her again. Sheldon began his descent silently down the tree. He had a list of potential toxins in his room but time was not on his side. He slithered to the ground; Missy and his father has their backs to him. There was only one thing his father would understand.

Missy had never felt such pain. Was she bleeding internally? Her father picked her up by the hair again when they heard the click. Sheldon stood there holding his father's shotgun using every ounce of strength to control the trembling in his arms. George Cooper narrowed his eyes.

"Sheldon, don't be foolin' with that now. It's loaded"

"I'm never silly." Sheldon informed him though his insides felt as if they were made of jelly.

"Boy, as soon as I'm done with your sister, I'm coming for you. High time you got knocked down a peg or two." He let go of Missy who took off like a deer and walked towards Sheldon.

Panic began to rise in Sheldon's fourteen year old body. His father could easily overpower him.

"I know just where to shoot," Sheldon warned. "You'd be immobilized, silent." He cocked the gun, "At our mercy 'stead of yours." His nerves wrecked his usually perfect diction.

George stopped seeing for the first time his eyes in his son's face. They were cold, calculating. George was not a fool; he knew Sheldon meant every word and would be able to pull it off. The boy was the best shot in the family. His mind was the most frightening thing George had ever encountered. Mary said the tests proved Sheldon wasn't crazy. If those doctors saw him now, they might rethink that.

"Alright Shelly." his father raised his hands." I'm going to Merrill's for a beer. You put that gun back before your Momma catches you."

As soon as Sheldon heard his father's truck leave, he vomited all over his sneakers.

**XXXX**

Penny didn't realize she had been holding Sheldon's injured hand in hers.

"I moved in with Meemaw the next day. I told my mother I refused to live with the disruptions to my schedule and my work was being affected. Later that year, I went to Germany." Penny gave his hand a gentle squeeze

"I work very hard to keep my anger in check so it helps to keep all my emotions in check even if I seem like "this annoying robot man".

Penny's cheeks flushed as her words were thrown back at her, "Oh Sweetie." she said reaching out to touch his face.

Sheldon rose, squinted up at the moon.

"It's later than I thought." he commented. "You must be freezing and I owe Leonard an apology." Penny followed him down the stairs exhausted by the turmoil of his story.

"Thank you for listening, Penny." Sheldon said when they reached their landing.

Penny patted his arm and brushed his cheeks with her lips. Such a beautiful mind; So much damage.

The End


End file.
